Drew Ellis covers Oakland University basketball for The Oakland Press. His news and notes keep you up to date with Golden Grizzlies men's basketball.

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Oakland coach Greg Kampe clears the air(waves) about Travis Bader

Travis Bader: Not a walk-on

Oakland coach Greg Kampe took to Twitter recently to clear up some confusion about red-shirt junior Travis Bader:

Let me set something straight, Travis Bader was not a walk on. He was offered a scholarship at Oakland. It's still a great story.
— Greg Kampe (@KampeOU) February 17, 2013

“Every
(national broadcast) says ‘He was a walk-on,’ ” Kampe said. “We were
the only Division I school to offer him a scholarship.“I just got sick of hearing it.” Kampe
went on to add that Oakland was also the only Division I program to
offer Keith Benson and Will Hudson, both enjoying professional careers
after being polished under Kampe’s tutelage. Bader,
who still leads the nation with 125 3-pointers made, is just six away
from predecessor Erik Kangas’ all-time Oakland mark of 348 — which took
Kangas a full season longer to set. Kampe pointed out that Kangas played
as a true freshman in 2005-06, whereas Bader sat out his first season
in 2009-10, which was “a huge benefit,” Kampe said.“They’re
similar in size, but their body makeup is not quite the same,” Kampe
said. “Bader is a little more defensively athletic than Kangas was and
Kangas is a little more offensively athletic than Bader. Kangas could
really elevate on his jump shot and go over people and take hits.
Neither took many free throws early in their careers, but Bader is
getting tremendous at the free-throw line.”Bader
is also just 10 3s behind Kangas’ single-season Oakland mark of 135.
Kampe said he and his staff are busy trying to find the next Golden
Grizzlies sharp-shooter.“We
look for a pure stroke and we don’t worry about athleticism in
shooters, we look at size,” he said. “Our great shooters … our shooters
have all had size. We want that 6-3 to 6-6 range and we want some
athleticism and that pure stroke.“We’re
out across the country right now looking for the next Travis Bader.
We’ve probably got seven or eight candidates in the 2014 class that
we’re looking at. There is one that is spectacular that could come right
in, but he could go to a BCS school. We’re just hoping that what Bader
has done in our system could help get that guy to come to Oakland. At (a
BCS school), he’s not going to get to take a thousand 3s like Bader
will here.”Bader is also on pace to challenge former Duke star and NBA trade bait J.J. Redick’s all-time 3-point mark of 457. Fans
can rest assured, while they watch Bader rewrite Oakland records that
weren’t expected to fall, Kampe and Co. are busy reloading.